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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embraced 300 years of royal tradition
yesterday when they named their son George Alexander Louis.

The third in line to the Crown will be formally known as His Royal Highness
Prince George of Cambridge, setting him up to become King George VII when he
finally accedes to the throne.

The name is the most popular for British monarchs in the modern era, and a
tribute to the Queen’s late father George VI, the baby’s
great-great-grandfather. He will also share a name with his
great-great-great-grandfather, George V.

By choosing Louis, the couple paid tribute to

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Royal baby is named George Alexander Louis

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033

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The Royal baby's full name is George Alexander Louis

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Zuma/Rex Features

The Royal baby's full name is George Alexander Louis

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Zuma/Rex Features

The Queen and Prince Harry have visited the new baby

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Zuma/Rex Features

The future King George VI with his daughter, the current Queen, in 1929

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 The royal Collection/EPA

The last King George with Queen Elizabeth, and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 PA

King George V on his wedding day with his bride, Princess Mary of Teck

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Downey/Getty Images

The Queen visited her great-grandson earlier today

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Times photographer, Paul Rogers

The couple left Kensington Palace shortly after the visit

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Times photographer, Paul Rogers

They will now be staying at the Middleton home in Berkshire

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 PA

After a few minutes they disappeared back to the calm of the hospital

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Dominic Lipinski/PA

The couple posed for photographers on the steps of the hospital

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

They emerged from the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s at 7.15pm

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Samir Hussein/Getty Images

But Kate quipped that the baby has more hair than William

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Times photographer, David Bebber

The couple said they had already changed the first nappy

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

He handled the tricky task of getting the child into the car

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Times photographer, Richard Pohle

William said he will do his best to be a hands-on father

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Getty Images

George - before his name was revealed - seemed happy in his car seat

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Times photographer, Chris Harris

They spent their first night wih the baby after leaving hospital

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The couple told press: "Hopefully you guys can go back to normal now"

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Tim Rooke/Rex

The Duchess beamed as photographers tried to get a glimpse of the baby

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Rex Features

The first wave of many from the newborn prince yesterday

2013-07-25 00:04:06.033 Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

King George I (r. 1714 -1727)

The first Hanoverian king of Great Britain, George faced down a Jacobite rebellion in Scotland a year after taking the throne, before turning to the Whigs to form a Government. Their association with the crown ensured that they were to become the dominant political force for the next generation.

He arrived in England in 1714 aged 54 with just a few words of English, 18 cooks and two mistresses, one fat and one thin, leading to their nicknames of "Elephant and Castle".

He married his cousin, Sophia, before divorcing her for alleged infidelity. He then imprisoned her in a castle until her death in 1726.

King George II (b. 1727 - 1760)

By the time King George II came to the throne in 1727, became the last British monarch to lead his troops into overseas battle at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 - later known as the King George’s War - which pitted the Pragmatic Army, of British, Hanoverians and Austrians, against the French.

Yet he had developed a hatred of his father, King George I, for imprisoning his mother. The pair regularly argued and King George I once put his son under house arrest.

So as Prince of Wales, George II set up his London residence, Leicester House, as a rival court which hosted meetings by a dissident wing of the Whigs, who had been his father’s allies.

Yet he then ended up imitating his father by quarrelling with his son, Frederick Louis Prince of Wales.

King George III (r. 1760 - 1820)

George III is remembered for two things: losing the American colonies and going mad.

In 1775 the American War of Independence broke out when colonists fought British troops at Lexington, until 1781 when the Brtish were defeated by Americans and French.

In 1788 he suffered his first attack of insanity, which may have been the result of the inherited disease porphyria, perhaps brought on by the strain of the American war.

His defenders say the policies leading to war, such as the Stamp Act of 1767, were not developed by him.

Well-educated in science and arts, he had a happy marriage to Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and had 16 children.

King George IV (r. 1820 - 1830)

As the Prince of Wales, George IV was regent from 1810 to 1820 due to his father being deranged.

Under him, the arts and architecture of the Regency period flourished, and he undertook rebuilding of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

His patronage led to John Nash, the architect, designing the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, which had the most extravagant chinoiserie interiors ever seen in the British Isles.

It was here that he had secret liasons with a Catholic widow, Maria Fitzherbert, whom he then married in breach of the Act of Settlement and the Royal Marriage Act.

In 1795 he officially married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, but the marriage was a failure.

King George V (r. 1910 - 1936)

The second son of Edward VII, the reign of George V presided over the first World War, the Russian Revolution and the murder of his cousing, Princess Alix, the wife of the Tsar Nicholas II, and the General Strike. There was also the rise of Socialism and the first Labour government, and Irish and Indian nationalism.

He came to the throne in 1910 amid a constitutional crisis over the House of Lords which faced having its powers reduced.

He was a visitor to India in 1911, accompanied by his wife, Queen Mary, and made hundreds of visits to troops during World War I. During the war, he also changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Hanover) to Windsor amid high anti-German sentiment.

He also started the annual Christmas Broadcast by the Sovereign to the Empire in 1932.

King George VI (r. 1936 - 1952)

As the Duke of York, Albert Frederick Arthur George had never expected to succeed to the throne, but did so after the unexpected abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII.

He was known for being shy and anxious, with a speech impediment. Yet he had a sense of duty, fighting at the Battle of Jutland in World War I.

George VI coped with the Second World War with admirable calmness, staying at Buckingham Palace for most of the time despite it being bombed nine times during the war. He and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, also visited bombed areas in East London.